Bachmann Releases Doctor’s Letter About Her Migraine Headaches

July 21 (Bloomberg) -- Republican presidential candidate
Michele Bachmann released a doctor’s letter yesterday describing
her as in overall “good general health” as the Minnesota
congresswomen dealt with queries about her migraine headaches.

“Your migraines occur infrequently and have known trigger
factors of which you are aware and know how to avoid,” wrote
Dr. Brian P. Monahan, the attending physician for the U.S.
Congress.

Bachmann, 55, is “able to control” the migraines with
prescribed medication that does not require daily consumption of
the drugs, the letter said.

“I keep a very vigorous schedule,” Bachmann told
reporters in Norwalk, Iowa, when asked whether her condition
would hamper her performance should she win the presidency. “I
feel great and so we’ve answered that.”

Karl Rove, the former top strategist to President George W.
Bush, said on Fox News yesterday that he thought Bachmann should
release her medical records, calling the migraine story the
“first big challenge” her presidential campaign has faced.

“It’s going to be important for her to get her doctors out
there quickly to provide medical records and to provide the
reassurance that people are going to want to have that this is
not a serious issue,” Rove said.

Pawlenty Reaction

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, one of Bachmann’s
opponents in the Republican race, said in Indianola, Iowa,
yesterday that he didn’t “know enough about her particular
medical situation to comment,” and would defer to the judgment
of the medical professionals, according to a report on the Radio
Iowa website.

“But, setting that aside, all of the candidates are going
to have to demonstrate they can do all of the job, all of the
time,” Pawlenty said.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney was more direct
in dismissing Bachmann’s migraines as a campaign issue. “There’s
no question in my mind that Michelle Bachmann’s health is in no
way an impediment” to her serving as president, he told
reporters in Los Angeles. “Her health should not be an issue.”

Surveys of Republican-leaning voters have shown Romney the
frontrunner for the party’s nomination, and the $18.3 million in
contributions he reported through June 30 was four times more
than any of his rivals raised as of that date.

Iowa Battle

Support for Bachmann, though, has surged in Iowa and
national polls since she officially entered the race last month,
and she poses an immediate threat to Pawlenty’s presidential bid
by embracing a strategy similar to his: spotlighting the Aug. 13
Iowa Straw Poll and the Feb. 6 Iowa caucuses as contests that
could propel one or the other’s candidacy.

Bachmann’s migraines and use of medications to deal with
them were initially reported earlier this week by the Daily
Caller website. Its story said her condition has led to at least
three hospitalizations, a matter Bachmann didn’t address in her
remarks yesterday or a statement she released July 19. The
letter from Monahan also was silent on that issue.

“My ability to function effectively has never been impeded
by migraines and will not affect my ability to serve as
commander in chief,” she said in the statement.

A story about her health appeared on the front page of
yesterday’s Des Moines Register, the largest newspaper in Iowa.